this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) put Republicans on the spot with the introduction of his Drain the Swamp Act, a bill aimed at banning White House officials from accepting gifts from lobbyists and preventing them from becoming lobbyists.

The bill directly challenges Trump to uphold his long-standing campaign promise to "drain the swamp" by eliminating government corruption.

President Trump campaigned around the country to 'drain the swamp', yet one of the first things he did was reverse President Biden's executive order that banned White House officials from accepting gifts from lobbyists," Khanna said on the House floor. "I believe that this bill will have support, not just from progressives, not just from independents, but from the MAGA movement."

Khanna's move forces Trump-aligned Republicans to either support stricter ethics reforms—aligning with Trump's past rhetoric—or reject the bill, which could be seen as backtracking on promises to clean up Washington.

Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) accused Trump of breaking his promise to "drain the swamp" during his first term in a letter urging him to address "key corruption risks," a likely reference to Elon Musk, who holds a government role while maintaining extensive private business interests.

"The American people have seen that, all too often, government officials use their positions to benefit their own pocketbooks," Warren wrote. "Even the appearance of such corruption is enough to damage Americans' trust in government."

Khanna's bill is the latest effort from Democrats to test whether Trump and his allies are willing to follow through on anti-corruption rhetoric—or if "draining the swamp" was just a campaign slogan.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 hours ago

Oh look, another empty "gotcha" by Democrats that accomplishes literally nothing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago

It's nice and all, but Dems still haven't learned the lesson. You can only capture the republican voter with raw emotions. This is 100% worthless if it doesn't elicit raw anger from those voters, and as we've learned it doesn't. It's stuff they experience and get frustrated by daily, like healthcare uncertainty => Dems promise expanded access <= Reps will cancel it out by claiming "illegals" will benefit from it.

The grocery prices thing was a good rep strategy to rile people up because most shop for groceries at least weekly so you can remind them how pissed they are every week. same thing applies to paying at the gas station. Dems need to find something similar and pound it in. Good luck with that.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 13 hours ago

"President Trump campaigned around the country to 'drain the swamp', yet one of the first things he did was reverse President Biden's executive order that banned White House officials from accepting gifts from lobbyists," Khanna said on the House floor. "I believe that this bill will have support, not just from progressives, not just from independents, but from the MAGA movement."

It won’t. We’ve seen this film. We know how it goes.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I know Republicans who don't think Elon Musk's obvious conflicts of interest are a problem. You just can't reason with these people.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, while this bill will show the obvious hypocrisy, it won't do anything. Like we already have 700 other examples of the hypocrisy.

But still good to have ig. Kinda like scientific studies that confirm things everybody already knows

[–] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago

The hypocrisy is a flex to them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 hours ago

So Ro is gonna wag his finger at them? If this is the best they can do, Democrats should never hold another office.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Where was this before the elections? Why wait until now when it is too late?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Before the election, Biden had an executive order already enforcing this

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Why wasn't it pushed into law.

EOs just get stripped by the next admin, and dems don't even have a spine to stop maga and repubs when they are a minority, yet somehow when the repubs and maga are in the minority they seem to stop everything the dems want.

[–] xmunk 4 points 12 hours ago

Force the fucking toadies go on the record as voting against reducing corruption.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours ago

We know this won't have legs. The unfortunate thing is, if they get power back, I don't see Dems as a whole reviving the unless we get a huge progressive wave in primaries.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

benefits are only for the king and his court

[–] Varyk 2 points 14 hours ago

great bill, great work